Magnetically stimulating cortical areas is above all known from so-called “brain mapping”, in which brain functions are directly and indirectly mapped, in order to enable particular functional areas of the brain to be located.
A method is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,625 for magnetically stimulating nerve cells. U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,234 describes a nuclear spin resonance (MR) method in which the intention is to determine the position of a micro-coil in an object. A method and a device for transcranial magnetic stimulation of the brain are known from WO 98/06342, in which a roughly hemispherical magnetic core wound by coils is used to generate a stimulation signal. The device and method described are intended to localize the function of speech.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,969 describes tinnitus masking and a suppressing device for applying pulsed ultrasound. U.S. Pat. No. 6,366,813 describes a device and a method for intra-cranial stimulation to optimally examine neurological diseases. U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,678 describes a means and a method for treating migraines. U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,852 describes a device and a method for transcranial magnetic brain stimulation, to include treating depression and localizing and characterizing speech difficulties.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,258,032 describes a method for diagnosing and treating the symptoms of vasospasm. U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,361 describes transcranial brain stimulation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,778 describes magnetic, non-convulsive stimulation therapy. U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,234 describes a magnetic neural stimulator for neurophysiology. DE 39 37 793 A1 describes a device for inductively stimulating excitable tissue. DE 44 08 110 A1 describes a method and a device for neuromagnetic stimulation. DE 199 14 762 A1 describes an arrangement of coils for transcranial magnetic stimulation. DE 199 52 191 C1 describes a device for magnetically stimulating neurones and/or nerve fibers using a coil, and an application for means for cooling the coils.